


Tulips Are Yellow

by orphan_account



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Amazingphil - Freeform, danisnotonfire - Freeform, platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-07-14 23:26:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7195529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil is a yellow person with a yellow life. He loves his little flower, Susie, like she’s his daughter. But is it possible to love something too much?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tulips Are Yellow

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for being so absent! I’ll try to update more! This is platonic, because I wanted to tackle the idea of letting something run your life more than a relationship, so enjoy!

Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Phil. Phil loved watching his best friend’s mother tend to her small garden in front of her kitchen window. A beautiful, yellow tulip with a bright green stem. It was her pride and joy; she had even named it Susie. When Phil would visit his friend’s house, he’d always visit Susie before he left.

As he grew up, he watched Susie die over and over again just to be replaced by another Susie. The woman told Phil it was because Susie didn’t have a long life span and would not last forever; but as long as she kept using the same vase, Susie would live on in each tulip that inhabited it.

This made Phil smile at the thought that just that vase could keep Susie alive. But, one day during a cold December snow shower, Phil was visiting his friend once again to bare bad news. He was moving out. His mother had threatened him that he’d be kicked to the curb if he didn’t find a place soon. And this made his friend very sad, of course. Before Phil left, he visited Susie.

He had talked to the woman before about starting his own garden when he moved out of his home, but he knew it’d be unlikely. He felt Susie’s soft, yellow petals. He would miss watching the woman water her and care for her. It was true love for a little tulip. The woman, before Phil could find a chance to take his leave, stopped him by his shoulder.

She said: “I love dear Susie… But I think she is very old and needs a better home.” Phil walked out that day with a pretty white and gold vase with a beautiful tulip inside. At first, he told her that he couldn’t possibly take away Susie. But she had told him it was obvious Phil cared more about this little tulip than she did, so she made him take it.

Now, here he is in a tiny apartment in the middle of London with only the basic necessities for a kitchen, lounge, and bedroom with a little, yellow tulip on his window for all of London to see.

Soon, Phil’s favorite color became yellow. It was the color of sunshine which was exactly what Susie brought to his life. He watered her every day before he left for work, he made sure she received plenty of sun by the window, and the cloudy days only worried him. Every time Susie began to wilt, he would buy a brand new packet of tulips so she could live on in the next tulip to be.

One sunny morning, Phil went to visit Susie as he did every morning. She was happily erect inside the old vase, soaking in the sunshine. After watering her, Phil dressed himself in his green apron with the cute decoration of a sun flower over a white dress shirt and khakis. He worked at a local flower shop somewhere in London.

The store was small and all Phil did all day was take care of flowers and ring up customers. That morning, as he was tending to a patch of lilies displayed in the window, he saw a man approaching the door. The happy jingle of the bell at the door sounded when he pushed the glass door open. Had immediately went to the opposite side of the shop.

Phil, of course, followed the new customer. He said, “Do you need help finding anything, Sir?” The man turned around. He didn’t seem like too much of a morning person. His hair was a mess of chocolate colored strands, and his eyes had obviously not seen a wink of sleep the previous night. Phil would be lying if he said he didn’t seem slightly intimidating.

“Do you have any Baby’s Breath?” The man asked with a rusty-sounding voice. “I need a bouquet of it.” Phil nodded and led the man to the counter where the Baby’s Breath was behind the counter. Without saying a word, he began collecting it and beautifully wrapping it up in a pretty paper and ribbon. It only took a couple moments.

“That’ll be £7.50, please,” Phil said, handing over the Baby’s Breath. As the man reached into his back pocket for his wallet, he pulled the bouquet towards him.

“You’re pretty good at that, huh?” He asked, quizzically.

Phil responded, “Not the best, but decent, I guess.” The man placed the money on the counter before walking out with the Baby’s Breath. Phil went on with the rest of his day. Just thirty more minutes until he gets to go home and be with Susie.

When Phil was walking home, he passed by the cemetery where he noticed a messy brown-haired boy sitting on a bench. Well, at least now he knows what the flowers were for. He could see the man was probably in pain. He could use another person there with him. Susie could wait for him. Phil stepped over to the boy and took a seat next to him without saying anything.

“Hey,” Phil said after what felt like a long time of silence. The boy only looked down at the grass below his converse. Phil didn’t know what he was feeling; he had never felt the pain of losing someone so close to him he’d bring them flowers to their grave. He had only lost distant relatives.

Finally, the boy said, “Hi. What are you doing here, Flower Shop Boy?” Phil felt a little pushed away at that. Phil thought maybe he should’ve just kept walking instead of stopping. He was taking time away from Susie to be with this guy, but Phil pushed through.

He said, “You just looked sad, and… I might know why.” Phil couldn’t stop himself. He didn’t know why he had said this, but it felt right. “Do you want to come back for some tea? I live in that building right over there.” The boy laughed and looked at Phil for the first time since he had taken a seat next to him. What was so funny? Was Phil just being a weirdo by offering?

“Funny,” he said. “I live in that building, too. Actually, my sister passed away a couple years ago… Yeah, I’m not some sissy who gets their feelings hurt if you talk about it like you originally thought. I can actually discuss heavy subject, believe it or not. And, sure. Why not?” Phil smiled. He shouldn’t have assumed the boy would become super offended if he asked.

Phil lead the boy back to the building, but it wasn’t before they were inside his apartment before he remembered he didn’t even know this guy’s name. “So,” Phil started as he closed the door behind him. “What’s your name? I’m Phil Lester.”

“Dan Howell,” the boy said. As Phil left for the kitchen, Dan’s eyes landed upon a lone tulip on the window. He smiled when he saw the bright yellow color. From what he had seen of Phil, it certainly fit his personality. Phil had a bounce in his walk, in the way he talked, and in his actions. Phil actually did remind him of sunshine. Yellow.

“I only have one type of tea; is that okay?” Phil asked from the kitchen, distracting Dan from the tulip. Phil walked into the room with two mugs. “Oh, I see you’ve already met Susie.” When Phil said the flower’s name, his face heated up. He forgot it wasn’t common for people to have pet plants and name them. “I-I mean… my tulip…”

“Susie… Seems like a fitting name for such a happy, little flower,” Dan said, accepting the mug with his tea in it. “It’s very pretty…” Phil smiled. It was nice someone other than him was complimenting Susie. He felt she didn’t get the amount of attention she deserved.

Dan and Phil had little small talk about hobbies, and Phil found out that Dan was an aspiring actor. Dan found out Phil had a compassion for plants and hoped to one day have a full garden, but, obviously, that was achievable in an apartment building. After the sun already began setting, Dan then excused himself downstairs to his own apartment, leaving Phil alone in his vacant home.

It had felt nice to have another living, breathing human in his presence, as weird as that sounds. Phil just felt lonely sometimes. Sure, Phil loved to tending to Susie and talking to her, but sometimes he just wanted to talk to someone who could respond. Dan didn’t visit for a while.

It had been a full two months since the last time he had seen Dan. Phil became closer and closer to Susie. His entire life became yellow. He always kept the window curtains open to let the golden sunshine in, he wore yellow clothes, he invested in yellow furniture. Susie had taken over his life. Every time Susie wilted, it was Phil’s top priority to replant her. Every time Phil was away from home for more than a few hours, Phil made it top priority to rush back home to make sure she was okay. Phil lived and breathed the color yellow.

Phil, on a Saturday morning, was alone in the store other than the assistant manager in the back. He heard the oh-so familiar jingle and looked up to see Dan. He immediately picked out the Baby’s Breath and walked to the counter.

While Phil was tying the pretty flowers together, he said, “It’s been a while…” Dan nodded, a sad glint in his eyes. Phil didn’t know what happened. But what he didn’t know was that Dan saw everything. He saw how Phil’s life was being ran by Susie. He saw that yellow was absorbing him. He was drowning in yellow.

But Dan gave a smile and placed a familiar-colored flower on the counter. He said, “This reminded me of you.” After paying and leaving the store, Phil couldn’t control himself. He cried. He silently sobbed before taking the flower and dropping it in the trash. The color yellow… made him feel sick. Even his button-up shirt was a tinted yellow. His pants were a yellow-ish brown. That night, he couldn’t stop looking at Susie. He loved Susie like a child.

But she was controlling him.

Phil stood from his sunshine-colored sofa and walked to the tulip. He picked her up took a good look at her. Yellow petals and bright, green stem. He sighed and began making the journey down the stairs and to Dan’s flat. When Dan answered, Phil shoved the orange vase in his arms. He couldn’t take care of the flower anymore. He didn’t feel the same love as he did before.

“P-Please… Take good care of Susie,” Phil sobbed. “I just don’t love her anymore… And I want someone to love her like I did. Please, promise me she’ll be safe with you.” Dan felt compassion in his heart for the poor flower shop boy.

“I promise.”

Tulips are yellow, but the world is not.


End file.
